St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-01-22
ROOTS FOR STOCK.
The Proper Way of Preserving Them for
Use in Winter and Spring.

10 large extent. ensilage is taking
the place of roots on dairy farms It is be-
ieved by many to be a cheaper food and
to make richer milk than roots. This,
however, is questioned by some excel-
lent feeders. The difference in cost
between an equal value of feed in en-
slage and roots is not much, and a
modification of circumstances may
make one or the other the cheaper
| food. AS green food for mich COWS,
either may be substitute for the
other, out their continued use upon the
health of stock and upon the quality
of milk can hardly be considered
identical. Roots are food in it's natural
state, but ensilage can hardly
be so considered. It is,
of necessity, altered by fermenta-
ton. Its carbohydrates are partially
burned and altered by the conversion
of starch and sugar into acid, and its
albuminoids are more or less broken
up by furnishing food for bacteria,
and by decomposition from
oxidation, and its mineral con-
stituents must evidently be altered ma
terially by change in the juices in
which they are dissolved from a neu-
trail to strongly acid condition. But
ensilage is succulent and easy of digest
ion, and by a judicious discrimination
in the selection of material for the silo,
it may be made to produce more and
richer milk than roots, but both are
more proftably fed in connection with
more heterogeneous food than when used
alone. For breeding stock and for fur
nishing milk in the most wholesome
condition for the use of invalids and
infants, roots. by supplying food in a
perfectly natural and unaltered state,
are to be preferred to any fermented
food. They are also especially valua-
Bile as an appetizer and health-in-
spring food in the season of dry fodder,
and should not be dropped out of the
winter diet for dairy cows even where
ensilage is used. With little care and
labor they are easily preserved SO as to
be convenient for use at any time in the
winter.
The best arrangement for storing
roots for stock in winter is large cell
lar adjacent to a stable in the basement
of cow-barn or stable for other stock.
It is important that aroot-cellar should
not be wanting in size, for if it is, the
vegetables will be very sure to warm
up and decay. All kinds of green
roots, green fruit and green vegetation
of every sort undergo slow but steady
change if exposed to the air at any
temperature much above freezing.
The corroding tendency of the free
oxygen in the air, by its strong affinity
for carbon, causes it to combine with
the carbon in the carbohydrates not
only, but also with the carbon in the
proteine or flesh-forming compounds
of green vegetation, converting the
carbon into carbonic acid gas. The
production of this gas is always accom-
panied with the development of heat
according to the amount of gas formed.
The heat generated in a pile of fresh
roots is considerable. 1t is so much
that the space in which they are stored,
if too contracted, soon becomes apprec-
iably warmer, which serves not only to
hasten the process of oyydation, but
hastens decay as well. A root-cellar,
therefore, should have ample space,
be confined to the roots, but have room
by current of air to be distributed
through the whole Enclosure, and by
means of ventilation carried out and
colder air take its place. The closer
the temperature of the contemporaries
to freezing, the slower will be both
oxidation and decay. Unless it is low,
the shrlnkage of roots in an airy room
from evaporation and oxidation to-
gether, is considerable. 1t will easily
run from twenty-five to thirty-tiye per
cent. i'll the course of a winter. So
much of this shrinkage is due to evap-
Grafton that the roots are continually
growing richer in proportion to bulk
and weight. But good circulation Of
air is essential to preservation unless
the roots are kept cold by contact with
damp EARTH as when buried. A store
room for roots should have ample con-
nection with the outside air in early
winter, but susceptible of being grad
ually closed up as freezing weather
comes on, and if need be in extreme
weather, to have an open connection
with an adjacent stable that the heat
from the stock may prevent
freezing. With such an arrangement,
roots can be fed with best advantage,
as they are safe for preservation or for
use at any time the feeder may prefer.
Lire Stock Journal.
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